Crooked Perfection
by DarkSoleil
Summary: Maybe it’s not perfect. There’s nothing like imperfection. Sakura has to learn that some things don’t need to be straightened, and that patients sometimes heal the doctors. SasuSaku, SakuGaa, SakuNaru.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything that come's with it.

* * *

_ Better to do_ _something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly._

_ -Robert Schuller_

She dreamed of white lilacs and soft tulips, of light roses and baby breaths opening to the warm sunny shine. Her hair would be held in a messy tail, her nose smudged with the dirt of her grassy paradise. Overalls slightly damp from her watering can, she would sing along to the melody in the air.

She imagined that there was no brick wall blocking her window, and that her backyard had green grass and all the torn tires would be gone by tomorrow. If only for today, her dry sheets would be made of the finest Egyptian cotton.

Her unsavory coffee would be an unlimited order of freshly ground beans directly from Colombia and she would sit on her leather couch watching her flowers grow.

Her teal nurse outfit would be a white coat of importance and her patients would be little blond girls with small colds, rather than her usual gunshot wounds. There would be no need for her to carry a pocketknife around, which would only be for carving her dolls.

There would be no reason for her to fumble to enter her home, because the looks the men outside gave her were of pure innocence. She decided that the only reason her colleagues touched her shoulder and snaked their arms around her small waist was to gain her attention, and could have never been because of the length of her skirt.

* * *

"Are you sure I'm getting this job? I can't rely on a maybe." 

"I spoke with him this morning Sakura, there's no reason to fret. They're ready for you." The stress was evident on the face of the young Sakura Haruno, her financial troubles clearly affecting her state of being.

"I'll need to meet with him first right, Tsunade? I don't want to be a bother from the start."

The sigh was not forced, "You need to relax, too much stress can make you relapse. And since you're helping people with something you've gone through, I'd think it necessary for you to try as hard as you can on not doing it again. You're a strong girl, you can do this."

"Thank you Tsunade-", she noticed the hour and decided it was time, "well, I'm off, I'll see you."

* * *

From the first view, it could seem like a simple family abode. It would have been considered a fairy-tale home, its white-picket fence adding to the charm, however, the iron bards over the clear windows erased it's innocence. 

The young girl coming out of her car released a breath of surprise, her awe evident on her face.

A short frog-like man came out of the large white doors she drove up to, and he looked at her for a moment before greeting her. "These your suitcases?"

She nodded, her curiosity showing at his small stubby figure.

He seemed impatient, "And you're an inpatient? Visiting?"

She was surprised, still lost in his unique form, "Oh! Pardon…I'm here for a new job, I think I need to meet with a…Jiraiya?" He eyed her suspiciously as if this happened often, "Tsunade, his old colleague, sent me."

It was a moment before he nodded, and she felt uncomfortable under his stare, "Very well, this way."

He led her inside, and she was welcomed into a comforting room. It was a soft peach color with small potted plants growing all around. It was cold in the room, and she regretted not wearing her sweater, but it seemed like a room that just screamed 'warm milk and cookies' all over. There was a crystal opening in the wall, where a young man with a circular black hair cut and over-grown eyebrows greeted them, absolute glee written over his features. "Hello there!"

She did not notice that it had been directed at her, but the young man did not seem to mind her unawareness. Finally, she responded to the grinning boy, "…hello…?"

The man sighs, catching Sakura's attention, "Lee, is Jiraiya available? Miss…-" he looked at her, raising his eyebrows, "Sakura Haruno."

He looks back at the so called Lee, "Yes, Miss Sakura is here to see Jiraiya. Ask him for further instructions if possible."

Lee keeps grinning and softly shaking his head, "He's gone away for a moment, and I was told very strictly that Miss Sakura be taken to her room, and that he would attend to her when he arrived."

* * *

There weren't many places Sakura had been to. She'd experienced limited vacations and adventures, and her childhood had been calm. However, she had experience with Psychiatric Hospitals, and this was like something she had never seen before. 

Her room was simple, and very tidy. It had a small bed, with it's common accessories being a small pillow and blanket, both of which looked uncomfortable.

She frowned at the lack of locks on the doorknobs, but was satisfied that she had a small private bathroom to use. There were no sharp objects in the room, and the posts on the bed were missing their decorations, as if they had been emptied.

This was to be called home for a while.

The thing that had stunned her however, was the walk to the room in the first place.

* * *

There was stiff way in which the man walked that made Sakura think. He was walking slowly, as if inspecting the hallways as he walked her to the room. 

She took the opportunity to study her surroundings. All the doors were open, to her advantage, and she glanced inside each of them. They had simple decorations, but they had pictures and posters, as she noticed in the first room. There were drawings on the wall, from what she could see, and a young boy was sitting down, cross-legged on the floor, sketching something. He did not raise his head to acknowledge the sounds, but smiled at them when the man directly called his name, "Sai, enjoying your day?"

He turned back to his drawings, "No."

Sakura smiled but recovered when Sai looked at her, "Aren't you supposed to be in your room? I'd be nuts too, if I had a face like yours." Sakura look at him with shock, "Oh? Are you surprised to hear this? Sheesh, and you'd think people would be more truthful."

The man ignored him, and motioned for her to move along, "I'll be taking you room to room, just to get you introduced to everyone. Don't worry, not everyone's so…blunt, and don't take it personal, he speaks the opposite of everything he means."

They had stopped at another room, with a soft purple painted room, and a small girl was brushing her hair. "Hinata, this is Sakura, she'll be your new monitor from now on."

The girl looked at her and blushed, but nodded. "H-hello." This caused Sakura to smile, "Hello."

They moved along, and passed a room with a man resting on his bed, a pineapple-like hairstyle making him look odd. "That's Shikamaru's room. Don't even bother, he won't answer back."

A room adjacent to Shikamaru's held a young blond girl tending to white daffodils. She seemed to work with great detail, but a soft-hesitation was evident in her movements. He glanced at the pair outside her door softly, "Hello." She had blue eyes, and a small but curvy figure to her. A small thing about her though, was the dryness of her lips, and the paleness of her skin. "Hello, Ino. This is Sakura. She won't be monitoring you but I thought you'd like to meet her."

She looked at Sakura suddenly, and smiled a wide grin, "Of course. Always a pleasure." There was a fake-ness to her words, and it reminded her of the first boy she had seen, Sai.

Sakura waved goodbye to her anyway, and the man stopped her at a door. "We're here. You'll meet your patients later on today, or tomorrow. First, obviously, you'll need to meet with Jiraiya when he gets here." He looked around the hallway, "The only one you'll be dealing with from the one's you met is Hinata. She's sweet, so she won't be much of a bother. You'll get the file on her from Jiraiya."

Sakura nodded, "I understand. Do I need to go anywhere in the mean time?"

He shock his head, "If we need you, there's a phone inside that calls to every room in the building. Neji is going to be the one to take you to the office when Jiraiya arrives, so don't worry about getting lost. Anyway, I'm Gamabunta, and you probably won't see me all that much, this isn't my enviroment anyway, so, I'll see when I see you." With that said, he turned around and began walking away at a quick pace, different from how he had just been with Sakura.

She took that as a cue to enter the room, and went inside.

* * *

Tell me what you think. 

Until next time,

Darkofthenight.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura somehow anticipated that it would be long before she met Jiraiya, so she took the time to unpack. She did not know why she felt as though she would take the job so quickly, without even studying what it brought to her, but she believed she belonged in a place like this.

She took this chance as a unique beginning and there would be no second attempt at a start if she denied it.

"It's like a small home isn't it?"

She'd been talking to herself since she arrived, her mind felt too crowded with thoughts already.

She'd open the curtains in the room, and was surprised to see there was no iron bar over the window, and it made the room brighter.

She had no transportation, but she didn't believe she had any place to go anyway. Her perfect chance was slowly opening for her, but it didn't seem like it would cure any sadness that she ever carried around.

There was a voice in the back of her mind telling her to look around and try to explore the place, but she was told not leave. So she decided to dial the man she had met, Lee, and see what she could do.

It took a while to understand the numbers she needed to dial from the small book next to the outdated silver telephone, but it was not long before a call was made to the 'Main Office/ Rock Lee'.

"Hello dear friend! Who may this be?" Sakura did not know how to respond to this so she settled for a simple question, "Lee? This is Sakura, the girl you met earlier?"

"Oh yes! I'd never forget that beautiful face anywhere!" Sakura coughed, "Thank you, Lee, but I'd like to know where I can go to eat something?"

Sakura swore she could _hear_ the grin on the other line, "Do not worry Miss Sakura! I will personally go up there and take you to get nourishment!"

"No, no! I don't need to bother you Lee, but could you send me some instructions on where to go? I wouldn't like to get lost."

"Well, if you say so Miss Sakura. You just need to go down the stairs and right next to my office is the eating area. You might also get to socialize with some of our patients!"

Sakura smiled, "Thank you Lee, I'll pass by afterwards."

"I will look forward to it very much Miss Sakura! Good bye!"

"See you."

She looked around after lowering the phone, and fixed her white blouse before leaving. There was no use in staying in the room for any longer, she figured. Sighing, she opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

* * *

It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes since she departed to find food that she was found to be lost. It was not a large building, just very odd looking. It had a similar feel to it. It seemed as if everywhere you went there would be that same door, surrounded by the same peach paint.

She believed she was on the 3rd floor, and if Lee had said it was close to where he was, then that led her to the 1st floor.

The current predicament however, was that the stairs ended at the second floor, and Sakura had been too preoccupied with studying the new building when Gamabunta showed her around to really notice anything.

Her stomach was beginning to show its disapproval of her usual empty-headedness, and she wondered if she would ever get to eat.

"Are you lost?"

Sakura turned herself to face a young girl and nodded. "Are you new? You must be Sakura, right? She nodded once again, "Lee's been talking a whole lot about you. I'm TenTen, I work here too."

Sakura sighed in relief, "You don't know how great it is to see you Tenten, I can't find the stairs for the first floor."

Tenten pointed to a direction opposite of where Sakura had been previously headed to, and motioned for her to follow. "I was just going there anyways. Have you met everyone yet? Sorry I haven't been around to introduce, we're getting a new patient soon and I had to deal with all the paperwork."

They walked down the stairs and Sakura moved alongside her, "New patient?"

Tenten nodded, "It's a guy. That's all I really know. It's rare to get new patients, but this was a transfer. He's from Sand."

She glanced at Tenten, surprised, "That's pretty far."

"It's not uncommon though," Sakura began to see the office and Lee's dark black hair, "-we get a lot of transfers. It's probably because this place has had such a history of success."

Sakura nodded, "Thanks for dropping me off. I really need to learn how things work around here, don't I?" Tenten smiled, "You'll get the hang of it eventually. Hey Lee, I brought her. How could you let her come all by herself? She got lost, you know."

There was plain horror sketched onto the face of said Rock Lee, his shock evident, "I am so very sorry Miss Sakura! I promise to walk with you everywhere that you may require from now on!" Sakura laughed, "Yes! I vow to never let something bother you!"

"There's no need for that, Lee. I need to learn how things are anyway, I appreciate the help though. Anyway, have you heard anything about Jiraiya? I would really like to speak to him." He nodded, "Why, yes I have!"

Sakura looked at him, "And…?"

He smiled at her, "He's coming sometime soon, but he said he spoke to Miss Tsunade already. Not to worry Miss Sakura, you'll fit right in with all of us!"

Tenten remained quiet until then, "What did you need to get down for anyway, Sakura?"

"Oh! I wanted to get something to eat, if that's alright." She looked sheepish as she spoke, a small blush on her cheeks.

Tenten laughed, "That's quite alright. I'll just ask Chouji to make something for you. Hold on."

She followed Tenten into a room full of sofas and tables, with a small television in the middle. Tenten spoke to a young boy with red markings on his cheeks, and she saw him nod and go back into a revolving door.

It was not long before Tenten came back, a smile on her face, "I've told him already. Just wait until he calls your name. I think there's soup today, some of the patients have colds." Sakura nodded and uttered a small, "Thank you."

"I have to go now, I need to make my rounds. It was nice to meet you!" She watched at Tenten walked away, and looked around the room she was in.

It was not small, but homey, and had enough space for its current inhabitants. Hinata had left her room and was now on the small white sofa, reading a book, while Ino was sitting at a table, a bowl of soup in front of her.

Sakura focused her attention to Ino, and she noticed Ino's odd facial expression. She was looking away, as if not daring to look at the soup. She noticed another young boy with clear blue eyes looking at Ino, as if almost inspecting her, and she figured it was the ever-anticipated Neji. He was surprisingly handsome, with long hair neatly tied up. There was a distinct cold-ness with how he stared at Ino, as if daring her to move.

She didn't budge, as if used to this behavior, and did not even glance at Neji's direction when he walked to her. "Eat."

She shook her head, as a little kid would, and began tapping her fingers to the table's edge. "Ino, you are not a child. Eat."

She shook her head once again, as if daring him, "You'll be put on the tube again if you don't improve with this Ino." She looked at him in horror, "_Don't even dare_."

He dipped the spoon in the soup and motioned for her to eat it, "I have no choice if you don't cooperate."

She looked at him, as if slightly begging, but when he did not budge, she drank a spoonful of the hot soup, a frown on her face.

Sakura had been watching intently, but she looked away when Ino meet her eyes.

"Miss Sakura!" The voice of Lee calling got her attention and she called out a small, "Yes?"

"Sir Jiraiya is here! You can go see him now; it's the last room in the hall."

Sakura nodded and began walking to the room, her attention focused on what she had been looking forward to the whole day.

* * *

Meanwhile, a young boy looked on confused, a bowl of soup in hand.

"Did anyone ask for this?"

He was ignored.

* * *

Poor Chouji.

Tell me what you think.

Until next time,

Darkofthenight.


End file.
